Load transfer apparatus for loose material



Feb. 25,-1947. F. MEYER LOAD TRANSFER APPARATUS FOR LOOSE MATERIAL Filed Dec. 5, 1944 Patented Feb. 25, 1947 LOAD TRANSFER APPARATUS FOR LOOSE MATERIAL Fritz Meyer, Uzwil, Switzerland, ass'ignor 'to, v F Gebriider Biihler,Uzwil, Switzerland Atacama December 5, 1944, Serial No. scabies in Switzerland April 14, 1943 This invention relates to load transfer apparatus for loose material, and more particularly to apparatus for loading and unloading of ships. 1 For loading or unloading ships, particularly for handling grains or other loose, flowable material, there are used pneumatic conveyers, or chain conveyers which transport the material in a continuous stream, or also combined apparatus comprising pneumatic and chain conveyers. Use is made also of grab cranes which intermittently discharge the load. Such apparatuses, however,

have the disadvantage that they are very heavy and ponderous; they weigh hundreds of tons and require for their operation large stationary or floating plants, which are to be foundonlyat' important sea ports having the necessaryharbour equipment. a

It is an object of theinvention to provide a load transfer apparatus, particularly for loading or unloading ships, by means of which loose flow able material can be transferred to and from ships also in small harbours and independently of any special harbour equipment.

According to the invention, the'load'transf'er apparatus comprises a series of single conveyer elements adapted to be used one at the time or to-be successively placed in sries one after the other in any desired number and which elements are each formedby an independent chain con-" veyer having an'endless conveyer chain movable in a closed conveyer casing and carrying its own driving motor. These conveyer elements preferably are of such a size that they can be handled without requiring any'h'oisting apparatus and that the hauling output 'per hour, or the weight of the conveyed material per hour is equal to at least twenty times the the conveyer elements.

In a practical embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention, the single conveyer element has a Weight of about 500 kilograms at a hauling output of 50 tons per hour. This output corresponds to hundred times the own weight weight of. one of of a single conveyer, element; The elements preferably are constructed as chain conveyers of the so called Redler type, in which, an endless conveyer chainmoves theloose material in a continuous stream along a closed conveyer casing. Such elements can be disposed to convey the loose material in vertical, inclined or horizontal direction. 7

Owing to the relatively small weight of the single elements, a certain number of them can be carried along by the ships themselves, so-that for loading, transferring or unloading the ships,

2 Claims. (01. 198-207) they are not bound to important harbour equip- 2 ment and can also charge or discharge the load For carrying the elements fromone'working place to another, no transporting means are required, but a few men can carry the elementswhich may be lowered by hand into in smaller ports.

the ship's hatch, where they automatically grab with their lower end the material to be unloaded. It is naturally possible to suspend the elements to a ships crane or to the jib of a ship's mast, when such hoisting apparatus is available. For

the same output, such conveyer elements re-- quire up to twenty times less power than a pneumatic conveyer and 'their initial cost is considerably smaller.

The conveyer elements can alsobe used for other purposes than loading or unloading ships, for instance-for loading or unloading railway cars, or for transferring grains in ware houses.

The invention willbe more fully disclosed in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through a con-" veye'relement according to the invention; I

Fig. 2 shows the charging end of the conveyer element in section;

Figs. 3 4 and 5 show diagrammatically several combinations of conveyer elements used in un-- loading ships;

. Fig.6 diagrammatically "represents the use of? a conveyer element for loading a ship;

Fig. '7 diagrammaticallyrepresents a modifica-t tion o'f'the'manner of connecting two successive conveyer elements;

Fig, 8 is a; plan view of the arrangement shown" in Fig. '7, partly'drawn in section.

; The chain conveyer represented in Fig. 1 forms an independent conveyer unit and comprises a,

closed conveyer casing l separated by a partition wall 2 into a conveying trough section ,3 and a return section 4. The lower or charging end of the casing l is provided with an inlet'opening formed in two portions 5 and 6 for the loose material to be conveyed. At'th'e other end of within which the drive for' the conveyer chain 1 is mounted. 'This drive includes a motort connected to a" reduction gear 9 from which movement is transmitted by a chain H) to a driving wheel I! of the conveyer chain 1. At thej charging end, theconveyer chain passes over a circular guide l2. The chain 1 is provided with the usual U-shaped conveyer arms l3. The con-' I veying side ofthe chain 1 moves the material to;- be liftedfrom the inlet end of the casing l inathe casing the two sections 3 and 4 form a loop Figs. 1 and 2, respectively, When the conveyer l element is lowered for'example into thehold of a ship to rest directly on thniatiialto" feeding bin 31 into which discharges the lower elinefit and 'whicli 'firmits the conveyer chain *ofthe uppr-e leiiaent to grab the discharged matehauled, then the gate I5 is brought into the position shown in Fig. 1. The grains of "other loose materials enter through the cpn'in'gs and 6 into the casing and are autornatically n grabbed by the chain 'arms [3' tea fi'i6ved'al0hg J 39 but weighed' n raterial falls through the pipe 40 into the casing section 3 to the outlet l4.

1 When two elementssuch as shown -1 are linked together, tlfn the gate l5 of the second element is brought to the position shown in Fig. 2, where it 'closes the opening 5, -T he j outlet nozzle I? "of the---lower element enters into the opening '6 of theupper "element, and

the" material discharges from the lower element into the "charging end of the upper element I the pin 32.

34 is hingedly connected to a bracket 35 by pins 36, while the bracket is rotatably engaged over The conveyer element 34 thus can effect limited movements of rotation in two planes at right angles to each other about the axes of the pins 32 and 36, so as to enable the element 34 lowered into the hold of a ship to be angularly adjusted relatively to the element 33, as shown in Fig. 5, the lower element being accord- Y i-n'gly capable of grabbing the material along the sides of the ,hold. In this case the lower end of and is moved *f-urther'by the conveyer chain of this upper element V The described-conveyer element-hassuch dil mensi-ons that it can be carried by a -few men,

and that its-greatest width measured at right angles to the conveying-directiondoesnot exceed 1 *meter. According to the distance through which the materialghas to be conveyed, a single element or a, plurality of elementsmounted in series can be employed;

3 ;lo ose material is. unloaded --f-rom;a sh-i-p [By-to a lighter or'barge l9. -A vertically; disposed conveyer element 20,

"In "the example of such as "that described with-referencetc Fig. 1,

1 is loweredintotheholdof aship. The-discharge end of this ;element -20-is connected by a pipe or 3 chute -2| toa further similar conveyer element 22 disposed-horizontallv- This'pipeor chute 2| 1 enters-into the opening t Fig -51) of the hori- 1 zontal conveyer 22, which has;;the gate I5 dis posed in --the;pqsi-tion shown in Fig. 2 From the discharge end ei-the co'nveyer-element-22 afur-ther pipe or chute 23 discharges the loose-material into the ;lighter 1 9;; These ;conveyelfelementscan i be brought-by hand into their position-of operation;;theus e of cranes or other hoisting-apparatus is not required, owingthe reduced size and 1 weight of the elements. Naturally, ;ii desired, the 1 element; Zll ca-n be suspended from the jib 24 "of the mast of the -ship,;- in order -to-;mainta-in it vertical position, or to use the -shipT-S;Qra11,jf

available, for lowering the element into the hold.

"As shown in-Fi g; 4 on the right-side, a single conveyer element 25 maybe suflicientfor hauling iloose' material from the hold of-as --ship -i-nto a chute 25. When the-level of -thematerial-has two elements can be coupled as shown on the left side of Fig 4. -'Ijheelement;2'1 grabs the material in the holder the ship and-delivers it to the element -28 which -furth er -rais'es the material conveyerpasing of one element 33,-and-carries a pin 32. The discharge end erthe other element lowered'so far that -asing le element cannot raise l the materialanylonger through the-hatc-h,- then he ufie'r element 33 can receive a removable Fi' g.;-5r a third element 38 conveys the 'te i al dte'urntaaea to a weighing apparatus 6n the deck of the-ship, wherefrom the element-s wi-lFbe-obtained whenthe discharge nonzle H (Fig. 1) of the lower element is simply engaged into the inlet openingt of theupper 'ele-' ment.

, In the exampleaccording to- Fig; 6-loos'e flow-v able material is loadedfrom a transport barge l9 into a ship. For this purposea-single conveyer element 41 according to theinvention is used, which can be suspended onthe-jib *24 of the ships mast; whilethednlet end of the conveyer element'is lowered in'tothe hold of the barge and the'outlet end reaches over the deck or the ship, The material in the barge is grabbed automatically-and raised to thedischargeend of the element wherefrom it falls into the hold-of the ship. A further horizontally disposedconveyer element could alsobe connected-to the outlet end of the element 4l 'inorder=to"convey'the' raised material to more distanthatchesofthe ship.

While l have'shown and described a' preferred example -only-=of conveyer elements according to the invention it isto "be understood that various changes and modifications-can b'e tirade, for in"- sta-nce in -the"dispositidnof the d'rivin'g means V for the conveyer chain-*orin theconnction between successive eh-amends; without departing from the spirit of the invention-orrromthescope of the appended claims.

Iclaim: -1. In conveyor-means for loose material, a cas ing having-an opening at itsbottomend'for re oeiving loose material directly from a mass of material,-an-endless conveyor-chain moving in the casing, conveyor drive means mounted on the casing, the casing having an outlet removed from the receiving opening, J a gate movably mounted on thec'asi'ngat its botto'm end to occupy a position "at one side or the rece'iving opening when the -bottom'end ofthe casing is engaged in the material "-to =b'eco1'1v'eyed,' o i receivingopenin'g "andth'e s receptacle for initially holding mater'ial troduced' through the I remainder ofthe epmmg fwm the tifltlet of a -similar=conveyor' casi-ng.

rality of spaced transversemonveyor"armsmov ing in the casing to -con-vey hraterial there through, conveyor drive means mounted on ine casing, said casing having an outlet nozzle removed from the receiving opening, a gate movably mounted on the casing at its bottom end to occupy a position at one side of the receiving opening when the bottom end of the casing is engaged in the material to be conveyed, or partly covering said receiving opening whereby to permit engagement of an outlet nozzle of a second similar conveyor casing in the remainder of the opening, said gate then serving as receptacle for 10 initially holding material fed by said outlet nozzle. a v

FRITZ MEYER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: I

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 38,004 Krausch Mar, 24, 1363 881,429 De Mayo Mar. 10, 1908 2,311,034 Redler Feb. 16, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS v Number Country Date 76,088 Austrian Apr. I0, 1919' 122,918 German Aug. 9, 1901 

